Spy cameras legal in SA office toilets

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Spy cameras could legally be used in South Australian workplace
toilets and changerooms, a state Greens MP said today.

SA Greens MP Kris Hanna said he would move to tighten up laws on
spy cameras and ban them from toilets and changerooms.

His comments followed revelations yesterday that a camera had
been discovered in a women's shower block at a prestigious Adelaide
boarding school.

The state government branded the hidden camera "sickening and
perverted" but said it was not against SA laws.

Hanna said the laws were too relaxed.

He said the spy camera could have just as easily been hidden in
a workplace toilet.

"In the context of the workplace, an employer pretty well has a
free hand, if you want to spy on your workers," Hanna told ABC
radio today.

"Now, obviously there's good reason for that in some
circumstances (because) you want to make sure that money is not
being taken from the till improperly or you want to check that
people aren't accessing pornography in a school or something like
that. That's fair enough.

"I have heard (and had) reported to me, (instances) of cameras
in changing rooms and toilets, ostensibly to see that employees
aren't concealing goods from the workplace in their clothing and,
you know, marching out with them.

"There is no regulation and there's nothing to stop that sort of
thing being used perversely and wrongly, so there should be a law
against it and that's what I aim to do."

Hanna said under his proposed legislation, spy cameras would not
be permitted in toilets and changerooms.

In other workplace areas, employers must first warn workers of
the camera's existence.

"For example, when a person gets a job in a school, they should
get a notice saying this is the type of surveillance we have at the
school," Hanna said.

"The same thing (would apply) if you get a job at the hotel.

"(The employer would say), `Look, there is a camera above the
till so you'd be stupid to take things out improperly'.

"I think it will actually be a crime prevention measure and I'm
very hopeful of getting the government's backing on this."

Two residents at Lincoln College, which provides accommodation
for almost 250 university students, have been counselled following
the discovery of the camera on September 3.

It was hidden under a ledge and was directed at the women's
showers.

The camera was capable of transmitting images up to 150 metres
away to a computer or television.

College principal Ken Webb said there were fears the images from
the camera would find their way onto the internet, but so far this
had not happened.

He said shower blocks and other common areas would now be
regularly checked and students were told to be alert about campus
security and aware of strangers on the premises.

Nearby colleges have been notified about the camera and were
believed to have taken similar security measures.